The purpose of the essay is to discuss about knowledge management theory, practice, major concepts and practical applications. This essay synthesizes basic concepts and ideas as well as some of the leading thoughts pertaining to knowledge management. It also highlights the necessity of knowledge management, the techniques and practices of implementing knowledge management solution in an organization. Finally, the essay discussed two business organizations that are being well served by knowledge management. .
What is Knowledge Management?.
There is no universal definition of knowledge management (KM), just as there's no agreement as to what constitutes knowledge. For this reason, it's best to think of KM in the broadest context. KM is the process through which organizations generate value from their intellectual and knowledge-based assets. Most often, generating value from such assets involves sharing them among employees, departments and even with other companies in an effort to devise best practices (Santosus & Surmacz, 2001). The goal of KM is to simultaneously manage data, information, and explicit knowledge while leveraging what people know (tacit knowledge) through a combination of technology and management practices (Emery, 1999). .
Knowledge and differences between Knowledge and Information.
Although there is a great deal of overlap between knowledge and information, knowledge is considered as a finished product and information and data are considered as raw materials. Tacit and explicit are two categories of knowledge. Tacit knowledge comes from an individual's personal experiences and is affected by their beliefs, values and perspectives. This knowledge is not visible or documented and requires more personal and direct communication (Giannetto & Wheeler, 2000). Tacit knowledge is extremely hard to transfer. Accessing tacit knowledge is one of the goals of KM. Explicit knowledge can be described, documented and shared amongst individuals.